Things had been drifting away from defending champions Jaffna Kings as they suffered three defeats in five games in the Lanka Premier League, but they moved out of Kandy with a six wicket win over Colombo Strikers on Tuesday.

Jaffna are now placed third in the points table with six points. B-Love Kandy and Dambulla Aura also have six points each but have better Net Run Rates than the three times champions. Colombo Strikers and Galle Titans are bottom of the table, but all the other four teams have played one game less than Jaffna.

Colombo Strikers openers Pathum Nissanka and Babar Azam continued to impress adding 57 runs for the first wicket in 42 balls. Babar was leading the side in the absence of the injured Niroshan Dickwella. Lahiru Udara at number three chipped in with a useful 29, but their middle order failed to cash in after the top order had given them a solid start; a trend seen throughout the competition.

One major problem that Colombo are facing in the competition is that they have not got enough batters and are depending too much on all-rounders. As the Sri Lankan team found out not so long ago, depending on too many all-rounders in white ball cricket could be counterproductive, especially when those all-rounders are not in the class of Mitchell Marsh, Ben Stokes or Wanindu Hasaranga.

Mohammad Nawaz with 27 off 20 balls and Chamika Karunaratne with 21 off 17 balls provided a decent total for Colombo to defend but that was going to be below par against such a power packed side.

Dunith Wellalage’s figures of two for nine runs earned him the Man of the Match award.

The opening wicket stand produced 58 runs in 32 balls as Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Nishan Madushka provided an electric start as Jaffna began the run chase.

The middle order chipped in with useful contributions to reverse Jaffna’s losing trend.

Naseem Shah bowled superbly generating good pace and swinging the ball to deadly effect, but the team didn’t have enough runs to defend. Naseem finished with two wickets.

The tournament now moves back to Colombo with the race to find the four semi-finalists heating up. Jaffna Kings had cruised in all earlier tournaments without much trouble, but their domination has been challenged this time.

However, Jaffna has got enough resources to see them through to the title once again although Dambulla Aura seem to have a found formula to beat them. Those teams have met on two occasions in the competition and both games have been won by Dambulla.

B-Love Kandy also gained momentum during the Kandy leg of the tournament. Wanindu Hasaranga’s side started off the campaign having suffered two heavy defeats in their first two games in Colombo but once they were in Kandy they were unstoppable and won all three games played there and that too by big margins.

Hasaranga has had a massive impact in the competition. Not only is he this year LPL’s joint leading wicket taker, but the fourth highest run getter as well having notched up back-to-back half-centuries in the last two games.

Brief Scores:

Colombo Strikers

146-8 (20)

(Pathum Nissanka 36, Babar Azam 24, Lahiru Udara 29, Dunith Wellalage 2-9, Dilshan Madushanka 2-23)

Jaffna Kings

150-4 (14.3)

Nishan Madushka 46, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 39, Naseem Shah 2-22)

Result:

Jaffna Kings won by six wickets